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Switch from bags to tags has S’ton residents paying more for pay-asyou-throw
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Assessment dispute offers window to hard times at Weirs By Michael Kitch THE LACONIA DAILY SUN
LACONIA — On the eve of going to trial, Rusty Bertholet reached a tentative settlement with city officials over their denial of his request to abate the 2009 property taxes on his properties at The Weirs. The terms of the settlement, which
remains to be approved by the Board of Assessors, have not been disclosed. The dispute offers a glimpse of the flagging economy and soft property values of The Weirs. Bertholet, doing business as Leisure Time Rentals, LLC, challenged the assessment
of two properties. The first, a shopping mall, widely still known as the “Dexter Plaza,” at 28-36 Endicott Street consists of three buildings and a miniature golf course on 5.92 acres. One building, constructed in 1979, houses the Logs of Fun arcade in 3,435-square-feet. The other buildings, one of
6,986 square feet and another of 12,321 square feet, date from 1989 and have been home to a branch post office, the Winnipesaukee Playhouse, a restaurant and Dunkin Donuts among other tenants. Bertholet acquired the property, now known as Alpenrose Plaza, in see WeIRs page 10
Just another brick in the WOW
By Gail OBer
THE LACONIA DAILY SUN
SANBORNTON — While some recent changes to the payas-you throw trash system caught a few people by surprise, Public Works Director John Thayer said the move from bags to tags could save this town as much as $6,000 this fiscal year alone. The only issue, said former Selectman Patsy Wells, is that while the tags are still the same price as the special blue trash bags previously mandated — $1.25 — residents no longer get a bag for their $1.25 and are responsible for purchasing their own. “If the new tags cost $1 plus the usual cost of a trash bag 25 cents, we might have understood,” Wells said Monday night during a telephone interview. Thayer said the move from bags to tags was prompted by the soaring costs of the bags from when the pay-as-you-throw plan began, noting the prices of the former blue bags went from $7,000 to $10,000 largely because plastics are petroleumsee TaGs page 10
Geoffrey Nixon, an employee of Belknap Landscape Company, lays bricks at the Elm Street entrance to the WOW Recreation Trail in Laconia. Working with him are Ian Paquette, Brandon McKim and Bob Howie. Many of the bricks are engraved with names as a result of a fund raiser the WOW Committee has been running. For $50, supporters of the trail effort can have a personalized brick at the entrance while helping to fund the project. Bricks can continue to be purchased throughout the winter and will be placed in the spring. So far, about 200 bricks have been purchased. See www.wowtrail.org for more information. (Laconia Daily Sun photo/Adam Drapcho)
Liquor enforcement details charges pending against Gilford club By Gail OBer
Enforcement against a Gilford strip club that was the target of a state and local police drug raid on October 18 are allegations of serving a customer to the point of intoxication and employees GIFT IDEA drinking while on duty. All totaled, the investiga25% tors for the bureau issued eight New England Wireless OFF Belknap Mall separate administrative notices Any In-Stock Accessory with this ad 603-528-0733 of agency action that stemmed THE LACONIA DAILY SUN
GILFORD — Among the charges detailed in a report by the N.H. Bureau of Liquor
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from a four-month investigation of the Mardi Gras Cabaret North by the N.H. Drug Task Force. The administrative notices against the Mardi Gras from the bureau are to support its position in a hearing before the three N.H. Liquor Commissioners on December 8 that will determine if and to what degree the company violated the terms of its liquor see MaRdI GRas page 8